Intel Entering Discrete Graphics Card Market in 08

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DigiTimes, citing multiple sources in the graphics card industry, says that Intel will enter the discrete graphics card market by 2008.

At this stage all plans are still rather vague, according to the sources, with Intel scheduled to deliver a more complete roadmap and specifications in the fourth quarter of this year. However, according to most of the sources, Intel will aim for the mid-range market in the initial stages with pricing targeted around US$300.
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hmm Intel has the money to be a real 3rd player this could only be a good thing :cool:
 
Humm wonder if they will call it the Real3d 2?

Anyway this could be interesting. The last one they made(i740 I think?) wasn't that bad for the time. Only time will tell this time.
 
Manny Calavera said:
True,,just curious as to what peoples reactions might be.I'm open to it,if the performance is right as well as the price.I wonder what driver support will be like.
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intel is usually pretty good about drivers... at least for most of the intel hardware i have used

of course the deciding factor later is how well it performs :)
 
Proper Linux / You name it / OS support. I'm all for it. :)
 
I saw a news posting at TPU about Intel getting an SLI license. Even the Inquirer's source is questionable though.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40123

We wondered previously what Intel got from Nvidia in exchange for the tie-up that put more Nvidia chips on Intel boards. Now we know.

We can't say we're surprised though. In return for a CSI licence and a dual-socket chipset licence, however, we reckon Intel overpaid.
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as much as we'd all love to see more competition in the graphics market, when has intel ever been able to pull off even a half-assed graphics solution?
 
m2h mentioned this, but does anyone know what this will mean for open source/linux friendly drivers? I'd heard that Intel had opened its graphics drivers, and if this is so (and remains so) you can sign me up for an Intel graphics card right now.
 
Well I'm excited about it. There will finally be something other than NVIDIA and AMD/ATI products to evaluate.
 
It all comes down to whether Intel can perform. The graphics card market used to be much more populated than what we have now. In the mid to late 90s I can remember names like Matrox, S3, Kyro, and 3dfx but for a variety of reasons things are paired down to two major contenders right now. One of the big reasons is performance. Guess we'll see if Intel can really be a contender.
 
I have no doubt that Intel is capable of hiring the high quality R&D team necessary to create a competitive GPU. They certainly have enough money to pull this off. The only real question, to me, is: Are they going to make some stupid, cocky, managerial/executive decision that will limit the effectiveness of their video card?

I also wonder if they are going to allow AIB makers to sell them.
 
Mark_Warner said:
I also wonder if they are going to allow AIB makers to sell them.
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yes... that is a good question since most of them seem rather polarized to ether ATi or nVidia
i wonder how that would work out...
 
intel has no track record yet. you can't play any decent fps game @high res on any of intel's GPU's currently, i fail to see how they can pull an ati or nvidia... unless they plan to buy nvidia :eek:
 
If price/performance were right, I'd buy one in a heart beat. Hell, I'd buy Matrox or S3 for that matter if they made good cards for the gaming market. Make it competitive to DAAMIT/NV (S3/Matrox are nowhere near). You know M$ isn't going to dick with them on DirectX standards, and with a behemoth of Intel's size, they should be able to get drivers done properly... And more importantly these days, in a *timely!* manner.

Besides, AMD is hurting right now, we need a 3rd party just to light a fire under their asses and quick. I don't want them to become another 3dfx - not that they will; I think a taking the company private may be the right direction to start (although people are likely to lose jobs either way). Perhaps this is Intel's way of attempting to put another nail in their AMD coffin voodoo doll?

Intel may "have no track record" (in the discrete market), but out of any of the possible suspects for a new contender in the graphics market, they could do it. They certainly have plenty of their own fabs with which to build their GPUs on (a new use for their "old" 65nm fabs maybe?). As totally un-powerful as their integrated chipsets have been, there's enough right there to get them off the ground I think. They're certainly in a better position than AMD ever could have been (sans the ATI acqusition of course).

ps $300 is considered mid-range now? I guess with ~$550-600 high range and $760-820 overclocked models it would be....Oh how I live for the days of $150 kick ass cards (r9500 -> r9700) that could be soft modded into the top of the line'ish dress.
 
If intel made a graphics card that had DX10 that performed better then the 8800GTS I would buy it.
 
kush said:
Oh how I live for the days of $150 kick ass cards (r9500 -> r9700) that could be soft modded into the top of the line'ish dress.
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/sigh
Bought my 9500Pro for something like $115 after rebates. Those were the days

I'm totally in for 1 if the price/performance ratio is right. Heck, I don't care if Saul's Monkey Technologies makes it, as long as the video card performance, features, drivers, and cost makes sense, I'll buy it.
 
JediFonger said:
intel has no track record yet. you can't play any decent fps game @high res on any of intel's GPU's currently, i fail to see how they can pull an ati or nvidia... unless they plan to buy nvidia :eek:
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That is because Graphics capabilities were always a second thought for Intel. Now, however, Intel has a dedicated business/R&D unit for designing a real GPU (as in not an integrated POS). I wish them the best of luck, as I would love to see a competent 3rd party in the graphics biz.
 
Intel can't even get their driver team to enable T&L or vertex shaders on their oh-so-overly-marketed GMA X3000. What makes anybody think they'll come up with a decent discreet solution? If they even attempt it, I suspect it will be in the performance of the Radeon 9250 or GeForce MX4000 type products.
They did try with the old i740, but there is no way they can jump in to truly compete on the high performance side. IF they really do make a card, we could probably envision something along the lines of HD quality for the home PC with blu-ray or HD-DVD, maybe some very tricky de-interlacing, or something with HD audio built in...
Whatever it is, it's not going to be a gamer's card.
 
300$ mid-range = :(

I was really hoping for another big contender in the graphics card market to freaking drive down prices. I understand the philosophy you can do tons more with a computer than a console (of course this is true in a lot of ways), but when a graphics card - mid range one for that matter costs as much or close to a next gen console?

I wish something would drastically change the pricing of computer parts so we could start to see them as a more mainstream gaming solution. The only reason to own a computer right now for games is if your really big into mmorpgs imo.

p.s. flame on..
 
Servant of Shodan said:
Intel can't even get their driver team to enable T&L or vertex shaders on their oh-so-overly-marketed GMA X3000. What makes anybody think they'll come up with a decent discreet solution? If they even attempt it, I suspect it will be in the performance of the Radeon 9250 or GeForce MX4000 type products.
They did try with the old i740, but there is no way they can jump in to truly compete on the high performance side. IF they really do make a card, we could probably envision something along the lines of HD quality for the home PC with blu-ray or HD-DVD, maybe some very tricky de-interlacing, or something with HD audio built in...
Whatever it is, it's not going to be a gamer's card.
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You have no idea what you are talking about. The GMA X3000 is an integrated product....it's designed to be cost-effective. The difference between buying a P965 and G965 chip is probably about $25. So in other words, the GMA X3000 costs $25

Do you think Intel is going to take a $25 product and throw it on a video card and charge $300 for it? You must be crazy.

What Intel has done with integrated graphics has very little to do with anything they would put on a discrete chip. Intel isn't stupid, it's not going to make a product on par with a Radeon 9250 and expect it to compete with an 8800GTS-level card. They will charge an appropriate amount for it.

Honestly, though, all of this is pure speculation at this point. Intel might back out and put out low-end parts in the $100 range. In that case, some of what you said may be correct. However, if the $300 price target is accurate, you better believe that Intel will put enough engineering behind it to make it worthwhile.
 
Well, they might be able to get the segment of the market that uses opensource software (exclusive and non-exclusive users) if they release decent opensource drivers, or more cost effectively, provide detailed documentation to aid in the creation of decent opensource drivers (AKA supports 3d in a non-sucky capacity).
 
Well right now i believe i read that intel has the lead in market share for graphics around the world. So it may be interesting to see what happens with this. This could even lead to better integrated stuff. This is something most people will be interesting in watching.
 
Regarding integrated graphics, I'm not surprised. AMD claims its on the path to one day merge the CPU and GPU for lower-end and maybe even mid-range systems.
 
Manny Calavera said:
Would anyone here actually buy a Intel 3d card ?
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With Intel's massive capital behind the project? Intel has a massive talent pool to work with and tyhe money to back any project they try. They have the technology, and jumping from CPUs to GPUs isn't a massive leap for a company like that. Hopefully they produce some decent stuff and underprice it to try to get some market share.
 
Yeah, they would have their work cut out for them though. Theyd be jumping in competing against the big boys like EVGA/XFX/BFG/ATI. All of which have been doing this for a long time. Also the first three of which who offer an unbeatable lifetime warranty on their cards. Im not sure if intel would be able to do that.
 
Intel can do anything they want. Could probably buy ATI and NVIDIA's partners if they wanted to.
 
Retsam said:
Yeah, they would have their work cut out for them though. Theyd be jumping in competing against the big boys like EVGA/XFX/BFG/ATI. All of which have been doing this for a long time. Also the first three of which who offer an unbeatable lifetime warranty on their cards. Im not sure if intel would be able to do that.
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side note:

Neither EVGA, XFX, or BFG make GPUs. They resell NVIDIA's GPUs. Those companies make video cards.
 
If Intel makes a video card targeted for a certain segment (mid-range in this case) and it is level with - or surpasses - it's competitors in performance, price and driver quality, then I will buy one.
 
jebo_4jc said:
Servant of Shodan said:
Intel can't even get their driver team to enable T&L or vertex shaders on their oh-so-overly-marketed GMA X3000...
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You have no idea what you are talking about. The GMA X3000 is an integrated product....it's designed to be cost-effective...
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You obviously can't read and comprehend worth a fuck. I didn't say a bloody thing about comparing their integrated offerings with high-end products of ATI or NVIDIA.

My point is: If Intel can't even get a simplistic, integrated chip to operate correctly according to its own specifications; there is no way they could successfully execute an entry into the mid-level gaming market. So my speculation is that they are not going to go for a high performance solution; rather, if they do make another stab at the discreet market, Intel will likely try to do something special it terms of Image Quality, not speed performance.
 
Manny Calavera said:
Would anyone here actually buy a Intel 3d card ?
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yes, i would consider one.

Intel, believe it or not, is the # 1 graphics solution provider on the planet. (yes, they are bigger than ati and nvidia.) They have the knowhow. They just have to have the desire.

Those onboard GMA's sell like crazy.

Considering how cheap those video controllers actually are (~$4 in the overall cost of a motherboard) they do amazingly well.
 
I will be impressed if the low-mid range is passively cooled and the mid-high range runs cooler and uses less power than any competitor, even if the performance is 10% less than that of a comparable nVidia or ATi product.
 
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